Horatio Colony Preserve: City-Limits Hike with Great Views

Many of us who live in Keene deeply appreciate the unique experience of living in a city ringed by pristine woodlands. Even more unusual is the fact that you don’t even need to travel outside of city limits to take a hike on forested land.

If you are visiting Keene take a side trip to the Horatio Colony Nature Preserve, a 614-acre parcel of woodlands and wetlands located off Route 9 in Keene on Daniels Hill Road – only a stone’s throw from the Monadnock Marketplace.

The land -- owned by the Horatio Colony Trust and maintained by Antioch University New England graduate students -- includes 3.5 miles of hiking trails up a moderately steep hill, a historic cabin and old foundations. The land also serves as a natural laboratory for place-based education, nature research and public program initiatives.

The land was purchased in 1892 by author Horatio Colony II’s grandfather, Horatio Colony I, a successful mill owner in Keene, who bought 132 acres of abandoned sheep pastures of Pisgah Farm, on West Hill in Keene. Colony and his family enjoyed the land so much he subsequently purchased adjacent tracks of land over the years.

The Colony family, who lived on Main Street in Keene (now the Horatio Colony House Museum), built a summer cabin on the north slope of the West Hill property and dubbed it the “Tip-Top House.”  The younger Horatio, after he inherited the property, allowed the forest to regenerate and built a writing cabin in 1938, which has been restored and still stands at the entry point to the nature preserve.

The preserve maintains three trails: Red Diamond (1.1 mile loop), Ridgeline (1.7 miles) and Slickenside Trails (.7 miles); there are 21 signposts marking environmental and historical points of interest. The preserve is open every day, from dawn to dusk, for hiking, snowshoeing and cross country skiing. Hunting, mountain biking, camping, fires and motor vehicles are prohibited. There is a free trail guide available at the kiosk near the trailhead.

If you visit the Horatio Colony Preserve, don’t miss the clearing on the west side of the Ridgeline Trail that presents a nice view of West Keene, and the foundation of the long-gone Tip-Top House.